Greek legislative election, 1958

Greek legislative election, 1958

11 May 1958

All 300 seats to the Greek Parliament 151 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Konstantinos Karamanlis Ioannis Passalidis Sofoklis Venizelos Party ERE EDA Liberal Leader since 1955 1951 1948 Last election 165 seats, 47.38% 19 seats 42 seats Seats won 171 60 36 Seat change +6 +41 -6 Percentage 41.16% 24.42% 20,67% Swing -6.22%

PM before election Konstantinos Karamanlis ERE Subsequent PM Konstantinos Karamanlis ERE

Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 11 May 1958.^[1] The result was a second consecutive victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his National Radical Union party, which won 171 of the 300 seats in Parliament.

Background

Karamanlis took the decision to call for early elections, after some of the most prominent members of the National Radical Union defected from the party, including George Rallis and Panagis Papaligouras. Although Karamanlis could have a parliamentary majority, he preferred to go for elections, in order to achieve a renewed public support.

The pretext of the defection was a new electoral law that Karamanlis passed. Rallis was opposed to the law, thinking that it is going to be extremely favorable for EDA, a party believed to be linked with the then-banned Communist Party of Greece.

The outcome of the results proved that Rallis' "fears" were justified. EDA became the second biggest party, outvoting a divided centre.

Just after the elections Karamanlis formed a new government, taking back in his party the defectors.

Results

Aftermath

The unexpected rise of EDA, barely nine years after the end of the Greek Civil War, sent alarms through the right-wing establishment, and measures were taken to combat the emergent "communist threat", including the division of the large urban electoral districts of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki so that the left-voting areas would be separated (forming the Athens B, Piraeus B, etc. constituencies), as well as the establishment of a dedicated domestic security agency, the General Directorate of National Security.

References

Elections and referendums in Greece
Parliamentary elections	1829 1843 1844 1847 1850 1853 1856 1859 1861 1862 1865 1868 1869 1872 1873 1874 1875 1879 1881 1885 1887 1890 1892 1895 1899 1902 1905 1906 1910 (Aug) 1910 (Nov) 1912 1915 (May) 1915 (Dec) 1920 1923 1926 1928 1929* 1932* 1933 1935 1936 1944 (PEEA) 1946 1950 1951 1952 1956 1958 1961 1963 1964 1974 1977 1981 1985 1989 (Jun) 1989 (Nov) 1990 1993 1996 2000 2004 2007 2009 2012 (May) 2012 (Jun) 2015 (Jan) 2015 (Sep) Next
Head of state elections	1862 (King) 1926 (President)
Local elections	1834 1835 1837 1841 1847 1850 1866 1870 1874 1879 1883 1887 1891 1895 1899 1903 1907 1914 1925 1929 1934 1951 1954 1959 1964 1975 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
European elections	1981 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
Referendums	1920 1924 1935 1946 1968 1973 1974 2015
* Senate elections